TRENTON--For the second year in a row, and the seventh time in 11 years, the Trenton Thunder will end their season in the Eastern League Championship Series.

Trenton used three big innings to take out Binghamton 9-1. Bobby Mitchell's team shook off a first game loss to come back and win three straight games, and take the best-of-five series with the Rumble Ponies 3-1.

The Thunder took advantage of knuckle ball pitcher Mickey Jannis, who gave up five runs in 2.1 innings of work to start the game for the visitors, on just two hits. Jannis walked five Trenton batters, and saw his defense let him down in the decisive first and third innings. Two errors, and three passed balls, allowed the Thunder to score five runs, as they cruised to victory.

Trenton will meet the Altoona Curve starting Tuesday night at 7 p.m., after the Pirates' affiliate swept the Bowie Baysox in the Western Division series Saturday night in a 6-1 win. The Thunder will try to win the franchise's third title (2007, 2008, 2013) against Altoona; Trenton was 8-4 against the Curve in the 2017 regular season.

Will Carter (1-0) pitched into the seventh inning for the victory, in his second straight strong outing. He missed a start with a hand injury, but the time off had no ill effects.

"It was huge (to get the early runs)," Carter said. "The bats came together. I was really excited to get back out there. Any time I can get out there, I am anxious and excited for it.

"I am attacking guys in my last few starts, and have the guys behind me making all the plays. I am getting a lot of ground balls, and everybody is making the plays."

"Our offense is looking good," Crawford said. "That is what you want to see at playoff time. We have a good group of guys. The guys that have been here, we really want this really badly. As a team, we had a meeting, and said 'Let's go for it. This is our season, and try to get the championship.'

"When the playoffs come, everything else is out the window. Everybody's goal is to win. So when you go out there, you try to do anything possible to try to help your team win. In past years, I have had good numbers in the playoffs; I just wanted to get back to that."

Bichette Jr. was part of the run last year as well, and has been swinging a hot bat for the better part of a month.

"Personally, this was big for me," Bichette Jr. said. "I am happy I could get rolling towards the end of the year. I have carried it into the postseason, and I believe honestly that I could be 0-for-30, or 30-for-30, and I would think I will perform in the playoffs."

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The two rehabbing players, Garrett Cooper (.154) and Clint Frazier (.125) both struggled in their at-bats during the series. For Frazier, the four games were his first action in a month, while Cooper is now 10-35 (.286) in his 10 rehab games with the Thunder.

Whether or not the two players stay with Trenton for the next series is still yet to be decided.

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This is the second time that the Thunder and Altoona will do battle for the EL trophy, with Altoona taking the 2010 championship three games to one. Trenton has now made the championship series in every season it has made the playoffs since 2007, going 3-3 heading into the current series.